“For suppose that every tool we had could perform its task, either at our bidding or itself perceiving the need, and if-like the statues made by Dædalus or the tripods of Hephæstus, of which the poet says that "self-moved they enter the assembly of the gods" - shuttles in a loom could fly to and fro and a plectrum play a lyre all self-moved, then master-craftsmen would have no need of servants nor masters of slaves.” IfsNeedsMadeSelfPlayPoliticsEconomyPoetMastersToolsTasksMovedSlaveServantLiberalismStatuesAssemblyCraftsmanBiddingTripods Author:Aristotle
“Network news accustoms audiences to assertion not argument. Over time, it reinforces the notion that politics is about visceral identification and apposition, not complex problems and their solutions. ... sound bites aren't very helpful. They can tell a voter what a candidate believes, but not why. And many issues are too complex to be freeze dried into a slogan and a smile. ... What's lost in a world in which everything's an ad? Perhaps the country that created the assembly line has simply found a more efficient way to do politics.” WorldWayBelieveCountryProblemFoundPoliticsLostSoundLinesAudienceIssuesNewsSolutionsArgumentComplexesNotionCandidatesHelpfulVotersBitesAdsEfficientSlogansAssemblyAssertionFreezeIdentificationVisceralSound BitesAssembly LineComplex Problems Author:Kathleen Hall Jamieson
“Whenever you pray, make sure you do it at school assemblies and football games, like the demonstrative creatures who pray before large television audiences. That is the real goal of the thing. But do not, I urge you, pray all alone in your home where no one can see. That does not get you ratings.” DoeRealHomeSchoolReligionGamesPoliticsGoalPrayerAudienceTelevisionFootballPrayingCreaturesUrgesAssemblyRatingAll AloneFootball Game Author:Garry Wills
“Oh! the wisdom, the foresight and the hindsight and the rightsight and the leftsight, the northsight and the southsight, and the eastsight and the westsight that appeared in that august assembly.” PoliticalPoliticsAssemblyAugustForesightHindsight Author:John Adams
“Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. But if unlimited or unbalanced power of disposing property, be put into the hands of those who have no property, France will find, as we have found, the lamb committed to the custody of the world. In such a case, all the pathetic exhortations and addresses of the national assembly to the people, to respect property, will be regarded no more than the warbles of the songsters of the forest.” PeopleIfsWorldHandsFoundPoliticsLibertyCasesEconomyPropertyCommittedForestsFranceLiberalismAddressesUnlimitedPatheticAssemblyLambsSecuredCustodyUnbalanced Author:John Adams